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Writer/publisher Halli Villegas comes to the Barrie Campus March 5 to 7

Poet, short story writer and publisher Halli Villegas brings advice to anyone interested in writing and publishing March 5 to 7 at the Barrie Campus.

Her free feedback sessions and talks are hosted by the University Partnership Centre as part of its writer-in-residence series. While some sessions are aimed at students, Villegas will also offer a talk for the general public.

• Villegas will hold “blue pencil” feedback sessions for students who have works in progress or already completed, or who simply want to talk about writing. This is an opportunity for budding writers to gain some useful professional feedback on their projects.

• Villegas will speak to several Laurentian University classes and will hold a free publishing talk for students on March 6 at 2 p.m. in Room K321.

• She offers a free reading and publishing talk for the public in the Campus Gallery on March 6 at 7:30 p.m. She will read from her book The Hair Wreath and Other Stories and share her experiences as founder and publisher of Tightrope Books. Tightrope is a small but vibrant writer-centric publisher of fiction, poetry, non-fiction and anthologies.

“A touch of magical realism, a whiff of the dark,” writes Ellen Datlow in reviewing The Hair Wreath and Other Stories. “Great emotional intensity is wrought in only a few pages. Domestic skirmishes, open-ended mysteries and always—in the midst of life—the delicate scent of corruption. Villegas’s fresh voice promises a great future in speculative literature.”

Tightrope Books was established in January 2005 to bring a fresh take to Canadian literature by juxtaposing new and established writers, genres, and cultures and building an inclusive list that represents the vitality of current Canadian literature.

• For information about Tightrope visit http://tightropebooks.com